Daily servings of encouragement those w/ illness or pain, a program of Rest Ministries

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Do I Know God’s Heart?

When your illness only brings pain, how do you know God’s heart is to love you? Lynn shares.

“Jehu greeted him and said, ‘Are you in accord with me, as I am with you?’” (2 Kings 10:15).
The RSV translation of this verse is where I first read it and was touched. “. . .Is your heart true to my heart as mine is to yours?. . .”( 2 Kings 10:15).

If I can know the heart of another human being, how much more can know my Lord’s heart toward me? His heart full of love is perfect.

I can read about His love, memorize Scripture verses, trust, and believe. I long for the deep feeling of being loved by Him, a feeling I’ve known from a human love.

One of the most sly tactics of the enemy toward me is the same taunt he spewed at Eve. “Did God really say. . .” (Genesis 3:3).

I have pleaded in prayer during times of disorienting physical torment, “You are within me, Lord, bearing this burden. How can I receive Your love when all I feel is pain?”

“I am trusting you, Lynn.”

It sounds simple but it is not simple. When my functioning is clouded, it is hard to receive the correct answer.

The truth is, I want God’s love to be manifested by taking away my pain.

The truth is, my trust and love cannot be based on feelings. They are a decision. When God says, “I am trusting you, Lynn,” He is saying that He knows my heart has made a covenant with Him. My feelings fluctuate. Our covenant is what He trusts and thus, He can trust me.

The truth is, I can trust God’s heart. He created me in love to be loved first and always by him. His Son died for me, reconciling my heart to God’s heart. His Spirit dwells within me, even in the pain so that I am not alone. All of this is sacred covenant.

Do I know God’s heart? Yes and it holds the promise to never forsake me. His heart of love helps me to persevere, to trust Him, and even though I may question the ordeals, I never want to question His heart for that is what I need the most–our hearts beating as one just as He intended.

Prayer: “Did God really say?” “Yes, God, You did say and show that You love me. I can count on Your heart to be true. Here is my heart. You can count on me and my heart, too. Amen.

About the Author:
Lynn Severance is a retired elementary classroom teacher. Since 1983, she has lived with vestibular dysfunction: constant dizziness, sessions of vertigo and related side effects of nausea, balance problems, neck and back pain, visual tracking and eye fatigue. She is a breast cancer survivor having gone through surgery and chemotherapy treatments in 1987-88. She lives in Lynnwood, Washington. Do visit her blog at .http://lynnseverance.blogspot.com

What helps you most to know that God loves you in spite of the challenges that vie
for your attention? Have you had an experience, that you could share with us, that returned you
to this deep realization when your feelings were wavering?

Lynn shares, “Here is a song I turn to often. It was written and is sung by Twila Paris and reminds me that my choice is to always trust the Lord and, equally important, to let Him know that I do.

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4 thoughts on “Do I Know God’s Heart?”

Hi, Lynn,
Thank though for sharing all of your heart. I don’t know if you know the link to the blog isn’t working. Indeed been reading through this list but this’d one on pain caught my attention. I know that I was meant to hear this art 4 am as I lay here
This is amazing that you’re story & this particular area of faith in pain with vertigo & more. My situation is almost identical and had been like this 1995, although vertigo didn’t become permanent until 2001.

Hi Lynn, I wasn’t able to finish above this and proof my post which, as you know, is hard to do with constant vertigo. Our health situations being very similar, I’d really love to chat with you sometime. I’ve never met someone with neck, back pain & vestibular vertigo with arthritis like me. I was about 31 when this all began, 18 years ago. I have become somewhat bitter because it took so long to actually get a Dr to believe me when I said I was in severe pain and had dizziness of unknown origin. I didn’t know that it was vertigo and not that it was not from the ear. After 10 years of pleading many Dr’s for help, I finally received an x Ray, then an MRI and other ent tests. It took another 2 years for diagnosis of vestibular or central vertigo with many eye problems..my back was naturally fused in , lower back due you DDD and this caused compression in the eye ear nerve which is where the eye problems and vertigo come from. By that time I could not get disability or help of any kind because my work credits expired. Silent diseases are sometimes hard to diagnose, like MS, my back is similar.
But starting today, instead of asking God “why,” I’m going to focus on this devotional & say I trust you, Lord. He who knows my heart is one I should trust and through these years I’ve lost my trust & didn’t realize it. Thank you so much. It is very much appreciated. Dee